Vintage Metal Stag Head Tobacco Tag

Price

Availability:

*

*

Tobacco tags were made in all kinds of sizes and shapes. They were made of metal and were used to identify plugs of tobacco, especially tobacco for chewing.

These tags are quite rare as they are die cut into the shape of a stag's head. Many tags from this company are square, round or triangular with a printed image of the stag's head on them.

We are illustrating 2 tags so that you can see the variation in condition. We quite like their chippy look and feel - especially for altered art and jewelry! On either side of the head are points so that the tag could be pressed into the tobacco - on most of the tags, these are already bent backward, but on some they lay flat, ready for bending. Each tag measure 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch and is less than 1/16 inch in profile.

These tags were used around the early 1900s to mark plugs of tobacco - tobacco for chewing. Around that time, it was made by pressing cured tobacco leaves together in a molasses-based or other sweet syrup. This was a hand-on process. Customers would cut, or even bite off, a piece of the plug to chew.